Improvement in paper-feeding machines



MIGUEL PIEDRA, or WILLIAMSBURG, NEW Y K.

IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER-FEEDING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 136,668, dated March11, i873.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, MIGUEL Williamsburg, inthe county of Kings, State of New York, have invented anew and TmprovedMachine for Feeding Paper, of which the following is a specification:

presses or other apparatus in which such paper is to be prepared forfurther use, in suitable manner; and the invention consists principallyin the application to this purpose of an air-pump, which is moved backand forth over the paper, and which, when it arrives over the pile orheap of sheets from which it is to feed, causes suction to be applied tothe upper sheet, so that the same will adhere to a'pendent pipe fromsuch pump, andwill bemoved with said pump in its forward motion,

and then discharged from the pipe aforesaid by the suddencontraction .ofthe pump and closing of the suction-pipe to which the sheet adhered, andexpulsion of air from the same.

The invention furthermore consists in novel appliances for moving saidpump or air cylinder, for opening and closing-that is to say, for 1expanding and contracting it during its motion for opening and closingthe valve in the pen ent pipe, to which the paper. adheres; for

raising the paper to and against the end of said pipe; for holding thepump extended while moving toward the heap of paper and for otherpurposes necessarily connected with the operation of this apparatus.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 rep- .resents a side elevation ofmy improved palperrfeeding machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectionof the same on the line 0 0, Fig. 3. Fig. 3. is a plan or top-view ofthe same. Fig. 4 is a front elevation, and Fig. 5 is a detail verticaltransverse section on the line K K, Fig. 3. y

Similar letters ofreference indicate correspending parts. i l V V A inthe drawing represents a framework of metal or other material, ofsuflicient size and proper shape to sustain and hold in position all theparts, hereinafter named, of my improved machine. B is a shaft, hung inthe frame. A in a transverse position, and applied to one endofthelframe,which I willdenomi- .anate-the front 'end of the same. To thisshaft Prnnnh, of

B is, by gear-connection or otherwise, im parted rotary motion from adriving-shaft, O, that hangs in the frame A, or is otherwise supported.A wrist-pin, a, of the shaft B connects by a rod, with an oscillatingframe,

. E. that is, at I), connected with the backpor- This invention relatesto a new machine for feeding paper in successive sheets to printing tionof the frame A. The frame E consists of two uprights, as indicated inFig. 3, said uprights being, at their upper ends, connected by arock-shaft, d. -To this rock-shaft is con nected a yoke, F, whichextends forward of the rock-shaft, and at its front end carries a"cylinder, G, which is rigidly connected with another rock-shaft, e, thathangs in uprights f, whose lower ends are at j pivoted to the frame A,as shown in Fig. 1.

It will be observed that the uprights f and the uprights of the frame Eare parallel with each other, and that, being by the cylinder G and yokeF connected with the upper part of said frame E, they only constitutepart and parcel of the same frame, and move in con; junction therewithwhen the same is oscil- V lated by the shaft B, serving thus to carrythe cylinder backward and forward during the oscilla-tions. From thecylinder Gr projects downward a tube or pipe, g, whose lower end is ormay be slightlyenlarged or made cup-shaped inversely, and which isprovided with a valve, h, which valve can be turned, as in Fig. 2, toopen said pipe, on'at angle thereto to shut the same. H is a plungerentering the open front 7 end of the cylinder G, and connected by across-head, i, with two horizontal bars, ll, that slide or fit into theparallel sides of the yoke F. Springs m m of rubber or metal connect thecross-heads of the plunger with the yoke, for the purpose of drawing theplunger into the cylinder G whenever said plunger is not by other meanskept or drawn out of the same, more or less. In lugs or ears n thatproject forward from the uprights f is hung a crankshaft, I, from whichcranks o 0 proj ect upward, while another crank, p, from the same shaft1, is, by a rod, q, connected with the lower back part of the frame A,in manner clearly shown in Figsil and 2.

It may here be well to observe that Fig. 2 ,is represented as lookinginthe opposite direction to Fig. 1, so that the rod q and all the partsarranged on the'same side of the machine can be plearly seen in bothfigures.

in the ends of the rods Z.

Whenever, during the rotation of the shaft B, the frame F with itsbranches is moved backward, its connection with the rod q will tend togradually carry the same more and more toward an upright position, whichmotion will cause the rock-shaft I to be swung so that its arms "0 'willbe more and more moved forward against shoulders or projections 1" thatareformed on the cross-head'of; the plunger H.- Therefore, as these arms0 bear against the projections r, the plunger, will be moved forward anddrawn out of the cylinder G until it finally reaches the position shownin Fig. 2; and it will, when thus drawn out, create avacuuni in thecylinder. In this position the plunger H is looked, as soon as thecylinder G has reached its most backward position, by sprin g-pins s s,which enter notches The spring-pins 8, being applied to the yoke F, asindicated in Fig. 5, crowd, by their spring-connection, up-

"on the rods l constantly, so that they will readily lock into thenotches of the same when the same arrive under such pins. Being thuslocked in open position the plunger H is held so drawn out of thecylinder G, while subsequently the said cylinder G is moved forward anduntil the same has reached its most forward position; thenthat is tosay, when the most forward position of Ghas been obtainedthe arms 0 ofthe crank-shaft I bear backward against spring-slides t that hang at thesides of the yoke F, and push said spring-slides backward on the yoke soas to carry wedges a that are secured to the back ends of the slides 2?under the pins 8, or under pins that connect with the springs that bearon s, raising the same out of the notches of the rods 1 and releasingthe plunger. The springs in thereupon immediately and forcibly draw theplunger into the cylinder and into the position shown in Fig. 1.

By means hereinafter more clearly set out, the valve hin the tube gisopened when and as soon as the cylinder Greachesits most backwardposition, and shut as soon as the same cylinder reaches its mostforwardposition. This makes it clear that during the gradual drawing out of theplunger while the cylinder moves back no air supply is admitted to thecylinder, and that when the plunger is pushed into the cylinder, thevalve It being closed at the same time, no air-escape from said cylinderis permitted.

To avoid the friction which would necessaril y follow such greatcontraction and expansion of air, and the large amount of power involvedtherewith, I have made the back end of the cylinder G open, and haveplaced an elastic diaphragm, V, over said opening, as shown in- Fig. 2.The diaphragm will be bulged or drawn inwardly when the'plunger is beingdrawn out, and will be forced outward when' the plunger is forced intothe cylinden'thnsii accommodating itself to the greater 'or less;rarefaction of the air contained in the same. 1

The paper to be fed-by this'apparatus is in the form of superposedsheets placed upon a table, J, at the back part of {the machine. Thistable is made ,up-and-down adjustable, either by being hinged at itsback end or secured upon a vertical slide, w, and is especially madeup-and-down adjustable at its forward end. Springs a: are applied to itsunder side to draw its'forward end'down upon a fixed support of theframe A. L is a rock-shaft,

hung in the frame A slightly below the front part of the table J. Thisrock-shaft is connected with a powerful spring, 3 which tends to springor hold it in such position that a small crank, a projecting from'itwill be elevated and carried against a downward projection, I), of thetable so as to elevate said table. At one end of said rock-shaft Lisfound a projecting crank, 61 When the cylinder G is-being movedforward by the means aforementioned, a pin, e, on the rod q, moves overthe crank 61 and carries it down into the horizontal position shown inFig. 1, and thereby swings the aforementioned projection a down andextends the spring 3 the shaft 'L being in this position locked byhavingits connection with the spring y brought in line with its own axisand with the pin attachment of said spring, as shown in Fig. 1. When thecylinder G is moved back a projecting foot, f '4, on a spring-slide, 9that fits on one of the rods f, arrives under the crank (1 and just atthe time that the cylinder G reaches its most backward position a crank,h, of the shaft I, raises the slide g by arriving under an ear thereof,and raises also the aforementioned foot f and swings the crank d up.This will return its power to the spring 3 and will cause the same toviolently and quickly swing the shaft L back into the position shown inFig. 2, and thereby quickly throw up or elevate the table J. Thiselevation of the table J is obtained by the projection to fallingagainst the pro jection b of the table. Anothercrank, '6 on the shaft Lwill at the same time be'thrown against the lower part of a slide, M,that han gs in the frame A, directly forward'of the table J, and willthrow said slide violently upward against a crank, 3' of the valve h,and will thereby open said valve. Thus, it will appear, by takingobservation of all that has already been described, that at the timethat'the cylinder arrives/at its backward position, in.

which positionits pendentpipe g will arrive over the pile oflpapersresting on the table J, the plunger H is drawn out of the cylinder, avacuum, or at least a rarefaction of air created therein, and that atthe same, time the papery-is, by the elevation of the table J, r"ais'edinto contact withthe cup-shaped lower end of the pipe g, and the valveh. simultaneously opened. Therefore the vacuum in the cylinder will beapplied against the upper sheet on the table, and will suck the sameagainst the lower end of -the pipe g. The cylinder at this time .m akesits forward motion, and takes theupper sheet forward with it until afterit has reached its most' forward position. The plunger is, by ;the meansbefore described, violently thrown P is, of course, simultaneous withthe enteiy in g of the plunger into the cylinder, and consequently thevalve is shut at the same time that the plunger enters the cylinder; thepaper being therefore discharged from the end of the tube g by theshutting of the valve as much as orrather more than by the expulsion ofair from the cylinder. The cylinder now resumes itsbackward motion, andthe operation aforementioned is repeated until the paper on the table Jhas been entirely removed, in successive sheets.

In place of one tube, 9, a series of such tubes may be extended from thecylinder to act upon the same sheet, or upon a series of sheets onseveral layers, in substantially the same manner.

The mechanism herein described is not intricate, and is easily kept inrepair; and the means of feeding the paper is certainly the mostadvantageous that can be devised, because it dispenses with all thegriping devices by which the sheets are more or less injured.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. The cylinder G, provided with pipe 9, plunger H,and valve h, combined with the table J, all arranged to operatesubstantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with plunger H and notched rods Z, of thespring-pins s 8, arranged as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The spring m, arranged in combination with the yoke F, andspring-pins s s, and slides t, for forcing the plunger into the cylinderas soon as the latter has reached its forward position, as set forth.

4. The crank-shaft L, provided with pro jections a i and (1 incombination with the table J and-slide m, to-raise the two lattersimultaneously, as set forth.

5. The oscillating frame E and uprights f, arranged in conjunction withthe yoke F, cylinder G, rock-shaft c, and connecting rod D, to operatesubstantially as described.

6. The combination, with slide 9 arranged in upright f and provided witha bearing-foot,

f of the shaft I, and crank 11 and shaft L, in the manner described. 7.The combination of the lever N, the plunger H, the lever P, and thevalve h, to move the latter at the end of the forward motion of thecylinder G, as set forth.

Witnesses: MIGUEL PIEDRA.

A. V. BRIESEN, ALEX. F. ROBERTS.

